My roommate in art school, Judy LaBrasca took this photograph of me. A headache caused me to lie down. I had drawn the blinds, she said. Giving this picture a silent film star quality.
Judy and I were in Philadelphia’s Roosevelt Hotel together. On the ninth floor. At 23rd and Walnut. A grim corner. We painted the walls of our nine by twelve foot bathroom with Chinese Red enamel. The pale green toilet, sink and tub were just the right hue to interact with the Chinese Red. And my friend Bill Cohen ruined the aesthetic by drawing a peace sign on the light fixture. A by-product of Bill’s education: no appreciation of the color interaction.
My roommate and I had been collecting metal bottle caps. I think Judy started it. Soon we had so many, we dumped the bottle caps all over the floor. We placed our black throw rugs over them. A sign outside the bathroom door said “Before Entering, Put On Shoes.”
Behind the closed door, while our visitors were in the bathroom, we could hear the slushing of metal being plowed through. A heavy but slightly tinny sound. After all, the bottle caps were at least four inches deep! When not stepping on the rugs, which protected a person’s feet from tipping, one had to get footing by stepping on the floor and pushing the bottle caps in the direction one wanted to go! Kind of like walking through snow. But not on snow.
Art school, I am learning, is a very different sort of education. This suddenly is on my mind because our daughter just went off to college yesterday! What I lack in critical thinking from not having had a liberal arts education (such as my daughter and Bill Cohen), I make up for in creativity.
All those hours of life drawing, design and constructing modular pieces that “worked!” These classes went into the young art student’s brain in ways still waiting to be revealed.
Judy LaBrasca is now and has always been an artist. She lives in Maine. I am sure she, like I am, is tired of the bottle caps and doesn’t decorate with them anymore. I cannot speak for her usage of that wonderful color combination. I still have deep respect.
And while it may seem like I am trashing Bill Cohen, he received a degree from the University of Pennsylvania and then went on to law school in Boston. He has his own successful law practice in Pennsylvania.
Copyright 2014 Hollis Hildebrand-Mills All rights reserved.
Wow, that photo is incredible, Hollis. It definitely appears to be something from the silent film era.
Wishing your beautiful daughter the very best. I know you’ll miss her, but she’ll be home for holidays. 🙂
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Thanks Jill. Whatta time!!! Yes, I am grieving for my little angel, but I think she is in good hands and to be honest, I am glad she did not go to art school! 🙂
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I can picture the young movie-star Hollis putting on her makeup in the Chinese red bathroom and elegantly smoking a cigarette. Dim lights and candles…
A beautifully told story.
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Thanks,Karen! I did smoke at the time.
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Beautiful photo…and the bottle cap idea is brilliant.
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Marymercy, thank you! I always admire the things you do! This afternoon I will tune into what you are up to now!!!!
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I come from the “area”. Tough spot to be artistically “creative”. Maybe some wandering around Rittenhouse Square helped.
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Yes, but I will always have fond memories of Philadelphia! Don’t you?
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For sure. Wonderful to see how it “rubbed of” on you.
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I just love the thought of that colour combo in your bathroom – I can picture it! Not so sure I can feel the bottle tops but I like the idea. Best wishes to your daughter as she begins her college journey – what is she studying I wonder. Don’t miss her too much, she’ll be back before you know it. 🙂
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You made me laugh with that last remark about her being back before I know it! Jenny, she is going to study psychology. to council families of the military. When she gets older, she says, she will council children who are adopted. You know how these things can change, but like your son, she has an avid interest in the military. Thanks for the comment!!!
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Great story and picture! We were lucky to have gone to college during the time we did. Funny how parents so often are glad their children do not follow in their career footsteps!
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Yes we were so lucky to go to school then. Now with the economy what it is, studying art seems so frivolous to me. These days. I always was self supporting. But these days….Thanks so much for stopping by, pal!!! ❤
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Such a glamorous picture! Love hearing about your times in art school.
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Thanks so much, Lorraine. Judy shot the photo. Then photographed it again with a special polaroid camera. Then scanned it with another photo (not included) She had a series of pairs in a show and my picture was part of it. I agree with you. Very glamorous! Sort of epitomizes those halcyon days, huh?
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You really caught me with the aural image of sifting through metal caps. It sparked me to really get inside what you were saying about an art school education–and I suddenly became really jealous of you and those who have had that experience. All that making connections all over the place! All that sensory experience! And then there’s that photo she took of you. Good grief, it’s amazing. Is it huge on your wall?
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Hey Luanne! It is so great that you commented! No the photograph is not on my wall, but I may make a print of it! It is great isn’t it? I swear Judy’s artistry is what made it a very very glamorous shot!
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Yes, it would look fab somewhere–wall, shirt, upholstery :).
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I love your ideas. But since the photograph was taken from a show of photographs Judy had, I would have to see what she thought!
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Yeah, there is that little problem! she probably would be flattered!
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🙂
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My best friend went to art college in Philadelphia and she was very creative and different. I come from a family of engineers so sometimes my thinking is quite linear. She balanced and challenged me in many ways.
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Thank you, Kate. I have lots of friends without the “artistic bend”, but what attracts me most about a person is his/her intelligence and sense of humor. That wins me over every time! I guess I like the wit and the jokes. Enough color theory!!!! 🙂
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Wishing you and your daughter many happy connections! And best of wishes for her in college, too.
My oldest daughter went to Columbus College of Art and Design, Your story resonated with me, so much, Hollis! I really embraced my oldest one’s creativity and her looking out the window in school and daydreaming. I was great in this respect. I feel bad, I did let her go, try new things but her Dad while she came back for a holiday, over in his home (we were divorced) in a black and bright pink velvet, ‘retro’ style dress, he threw her out! Why? She had died a few strands of her hair neon pink. She showed up at our doorstep, my youngest daughter, my two parents and my husband of the time, all hugged and surrounded her. She looked so pretty! I was inflamed but could not call him, knew that this was hers and his battle and I stepped back. They have made peace now, she chuckles that her brother had two girls but her Dad ‘loves’ her ‘more’ due to her having his only two grandsons! Loved the image of walking on snow, with your bottle caps on the floor, under a blanket and sorry that I agree, the man who added a Peace symbol was not going with the feng shui of the bathroom!
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My roommate didn’t think too highly of that peace symbol either and since he was my friend…..I felt bad. Sounds like your daughter was being expressive with the streak in her hair, huh?
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yes lovely photo! you look like a 1930s starlet (it was my first thought when I saw it) agonizing over the departure of a lover! wonderful (I love it when art inspires a story) lol.
wishing your daughter all the best.
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Thank you. Judy made me look very glamorous! And thanks for good wishes for my daughter. It is hard to say goodbye!
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I find our educations fascinating. I wish I’d had someone to show me what it really was to have ideas and create when I was younger, and given myself a head start on where I am now.
On the other hand, I do have a rigorous mathematical training that has helped me get jobs!
I wish I’d done something like English Literature and Philosophy.
On the other hand, I admire the practice of science and maths and appreciate how essential these things are in the world around us.
So much choice and we have to choose only one approach.
Creativity and art school are something again. It’s one thing to draw and paint competently, which I can, and which I saw lots of my school friends do… but I wouldn’t even have called that art. To design and create something that makes sense and has its own beauty – how do you get from mere drawing and painting to creating? I think that is an amazing process.
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Thanks Denise for the very thoughtful comment. One has to have a spark. Without the spark, one does not create art. The hours and hours (and in any discipline, like ballet or music) of technique and theory build the foundation!
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Awesome photo–I love it. It’s film noir and artsy. The bottle caps under the rug sound like quite an adventure in the bathroom. 🙂
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Hey Kourtney! Thanks for looking in on all these back posts of mine! Yes, VERY film noir! I never have looked more glamorous, thanks to my roommate! Those were halcyon days, full of time and wonder. Yes, the bathroom was a challenge. Especially to get up in the middle of the night without shoes. Ouch! Oh, I’ll get Doug to analyze your cobbler tonight!
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